GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. - Tragedy and gun violence are some of the issues on display at this year's ArtPrize. After the events in Las Vegas, many of those artists find their entries to be more relevant than ever.

"It is about a weeping father and what would bring a man to his knees, what would crush your heart and make it bleed, what could never ever be made whole, a father finding his child lifeless and a mother guilty of the loss," says Dobberfuhl.

Other artists like Anna Ryan Drew view their entry as a form of activism. Drew's piece focuses on gun violence in America.

"We have to have conversations with community people and society and look at the problems that are happening in the world, and what better way to do that than through art," says Drew.

Automatic weapons were a big part of the massacre in Las Vegas and Drew's piece shows an AK-47 with dozens of shell casings all around.

"The absurdity is with the access of automatic weapons in our country. These weapons should not be accessible, enough is enough, how many times are we going to let something like that happened today happen until we address the epidemic," says Drew.